My name is Kenny and I'm happy I found this forum! I love the various Japanese cars of the 80's, especially performance Nissan's and Datsun's, especially the "forbidden fruit" Nissan Skyline (I live in Southern California and I know about what went to down with MotoRex and why Skylines are for all intents and purposes are illegal, which is stupid but I digress......)

Anyhow, my automotive enthusiasm is many; my dad raised my on the old school American Muscle cars of the 60's and 70's and I still have much love for such classic muscle. However I do prefer the Japanese Import performance cars as they do many things much better then muscle cars and are more realistic daily drivers. I also like police package vehicles.... yes, kind of an odd one, but you can thank the Blues Brothers and their '74 Dodge Monaco 440 for that one, plus I just like the idea of car that looks like grandma's car that has the durability and stamina to catch the baddies and really is a performance car at heart.... such as the mid 90's Chevrolet Caprice 9C1, while whale sized can exceed 140 MPH or the '69 Dodge Polara, a car so fierce that it's main purpose in life was to catch big block muscle cars and even on tires of the era, could roar up to 147 MPH thanks to it's 440 Magnum.

I'm here mainly though because I do love building Tamiya and Fujimi scale models of classics such as old school GT-R's, Silvias, different variations of Skylines, AE86's, Fairlady Z's and all the odd ball stuff that would never see the light of day in the USA. Plus I'm curious about the police cars of the Japanese police, you just can't find any info or specifics on police Nissan Cedrics and Toyota Crowns. Also, I know this probably cliche but here eventually I do want to own a real Skyline, I was thinking along the lines of a C211 Skyline, since it would be a car older the 25 years and I shouldn't have any problems legality wise and it would be a very different car here in my neck of the woods, but I want to discuss this and talk about this with people who know so it doesn't become a headache like I've seen with people and the newer Skyline GT-R's.

Again though, thanks for having me and keep up the good work, nothing is more satisfying then having a perfectly good car saved from the crusher and showing it love.

_________________Uh, an '88 Nissan Maxima GXE, is that a classic?'12 Toyota 4Runner SR5

Getting a vintage Skyline into the states isn't hugely difficult, it's just an exercise in patience really. I've been trying to ship my little Mitsubishi home for the better part of 8 months now and in spite of talking to customs officials in both Texas and Cali and receiving the OK, I have been turned down by multiple shipping companies (although I think I've finally got one on the hook). The guys at JDM Legends have cracked it and bring quite a lot of great car into the states, so definitely check them out. I've talked with Eric there a few times and he's a great guy.http://www.jdmlegends.com/

As soon as I crack the importation code (which makes the DaVinci code seem like child's play) I'll be sending cars to the states as fast as my wallet allows. You've actually lucked out if you're looking to import, because the only Roll On Roll Off port in the U.S I've found is Long Beach, which is an easy trip for you (not so easy if the car needs to end up in Dallas). If you are going to be available to sign the documents in person in Long Beach and pick up the car, the whole process gets much, much easier.

Oh and as of this year, 1988 classifies as a classic (happy 25th birthday!), so introduce the car as well!

Getting a vintage Skyline into the states isn't hugely difficult, it's just an exercise in patience really. I've been trying to ship my little Mitsubishi home for the better part of 8 months now and in spite of talking to customs officials in both Texas and Cali and receiving the OK, I have been turned down by multiple shipping companies (although I think I've finally got one on the hook). The guys at JDM Legends have cracked it and bring quite a lot of great car into the states, so definitely check them out. I've talked with Eric there a few times and he's a great guy.http://www.jdmlegends.com/

As soon as I crack the importation code (which makes the DaVinci code seem like child's play) I'll be sending cars to the states as fast as my wallet allows. You've actually lucked out if you're looking to import, because the only Roll On Roll Off port in the U.S I've found is Long Beach, which is an easy trip for you (not so easy if the car needs to end up in Dallas). If you are going to be available to sign the documents in person in Long Beach and pick up the car, the whole process gets much, much easier.

Oh and as of this year, 1988 classifies as a classic (happy 25th birthday!), so introduce the car as well!

Cheers,David

Thanks for the warm reply! Definately appreciated as I'm recovering from having my "wisdom" teeth pulled along some other busted chompers..... not fun, but oh well, lol.

As for my '88 Maxima, sure! She was my high school car, a hand me down from my dad. He loved that car. It's a white GXE with a chocolate brown leather interior and automatic transmission with about 136,000 on it. Here's the funny part with this U11 Nissan. Back in high school, I hated this car. (I know, boo hiss!) back then I wanted a Mustang (yeah I was an ungrateful punk back then) I thought the car was boxy and had no personality (yes I defiantely was an idiot back then) but that VG30E in that car, DAMN INDESTRUCTIBLE. I did every rotten thing to this car back then, full on redline neutral drops constantly, parking lot j-turns with the e-brake, hitting speed bumps HARD and just redlining the piss out of the VG. I still have this car to this day. It survived me, despite the terrible treatment I gave it. That little Nissan earned my respect and I love the car. I couldn't part with it- not even for a Skyline GT-R (which I'm obsessed with, funny how my dad loved Maxima's, but couldn't understand why I loved the Skyline GT-R!) it means that much to me since my dad sadly passed on a few years back. I'm just glad that there are other people who love cars like these and all the cool Japanese classics that normally get overlooked, or worse, scrapped. Especially 80's era cars.

_________________Uh, an '88 Nissan Maxima GXE, is that a classic?'12 Toyota 4Runner SR5

Hey Rick, welcome to JNC. Not sure if you already started posting or what but I'll be looking out for your build. I don't know what part of San Diego you are from. Come out to some of the meets sometime. For the south county, the old school meet is at Sweetwater on Thursday nights in front of the CVS pharmacy. If you live in the North county, they hold their meets at the Tacos and Tuners on Thursday nights as well. See the Tacos and Tuners facebook page for more info. Glad to have you on board and more people that have an enjoyment of tuning and restoration of old school cars, the better.